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Iraq says date for pull-out by US is agreed

The Financial Times
By Amit R. Paley in Baghdad and Daniel Dombey in,Washington
August 26, 2008

The US has agreed to withdraw all troops from Iraq by 2011, Nouri al-Maliki,
Iraq's prime minister, said yesterday.

But his comments, which go to the heart of the controversy over the US's
presence in Iraq, were not confirmed by Washington. US officials indicate that
any withdrawal date will be "aspirational" - that is, subject to
conditions.

US and Iraqi officials said last week that negotiators had reached an
agreement to withdraw American combat troops from Iraqi cities by next year,
and pull out the rest by 2011 if the security situation is stable enough.

"There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on
a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi
soil," said Mr Maliki yesterday, speaking at a gathering of tribal leaders in
the heavily fortified Green Zone.

But in other comments, Mr Maliki appeared to acknowledge he was not so much
describing the draft text as setting out his remaining goals for the
agreement.

Mr Maliki's remarks suggest Baghdad is pushing for further concessions from
the Bush administration. He demanded the withdrawal of all troops - not only
combat forces - and added the agreement had to be "based on a specific time
deadline for the withdrawal of foreign forces so that the time period shall not
remain open".

By contrast, the US is reluctant to go public with the current state of the
negotiations before clearing the remaining hurdles on the Iraqi side.

The topic is highly sensitive in the debate between Barack Obama, the US
Democratic presidential candidate, who wants the US to withdraw its combat
forces over 16 months, and John McCain, his Republican rival, who says the US
first has to achieve victory.

Robert Wood, a US State Department spokesman, refused to discuss the
specifics of the deal but noted that it still had to be approved by various
levels of the Iraqi government. "There's still a lot of work to be done," he
said. "Until we have a final agreement, an agreement that has been approved, we
don't have an agreement."

Mr Maliki said the treaty would go to the Iraqi parliament for its approval
and that alterations had to be made to the draft text to ensure its
passage.

"Unless they change, it will be difficult to have the agreement approved,"
he said. "There is still disagreement between both sides."

He said one of the sticking points in talks was whether US troops and
private contractors would be granted immunity from Iraqi law.